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Inside the Soviet Army (1982)

militera.lib.ru

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Re: Inside the Soviet Army (1982)

#31

Post by valgaze »

alexeisadeski3 wrote: post #26

Quote From Part VIII: Soviet Communists are frequently reproached for having attempted to build a socialist society but having produced something which closely resembles a prison. Such a charge is entirely unjustified. In the Soviet Union some of the inmates have larger cells than others, some eat well, others badly. There is complete confusion-a lot remains to be done to tidy up the situation. True socialism, in whi…

Quote from Part VII, Soldier's Lot, divide and conquer:

One requirement is sacrosanct when these selections are being made: whenever possible, Russians must not be stationed in the RSFSR, Ukrainians in the Ukraine or Latvians in Latvia. If there are disturbances among the Russian population of, for instance, Murom or Tolyatti or Omsk, these will be crushed, sometimes with considerable bloodshed, by non-Russian soldiers. If a strike breaks out in Donetsk (as one did in 1970) there will be no Ukrainian soldiers in the area. The soldiers stationed there are Tatars, Kirghiz, Georgians. It is all the same to them who they shoot at. What is important is that there is no one in the crowd confronting them whom they know and no one in it who speaks a language they can understand.

Re: Inside the Soviet Army (1982)

#32

Post by rimantas »

korzun wrote: post #14
tumanian wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Putin's administration justifies the current economic state and the rampant corruption in Russia by that Russia has is own 'special way' of development which is limited the history and the socio-economic heritage of the communist regime. If Ukraine(or any other ex-Soviet country) manages to get rid of the current cleptocratic system and launches succesfull socio-economic reforms that tackle corruption, it will be a s…

Ukraine is broke. They owe Russia millions of dollars and have been living on pretty much free gas (courtesy of Russia). I assume you live in US? Do you not find it ironic that you blame Russia for taking this seriously (in their own backyard) while US have been staging government coups within other countries (with multiple death tolls) for decades? And in regards to corruption: "People who live in glass houses shoul…

Ah, good old one http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_you_are_lynching_Negroes

Re: Inside the Soviet Army (1982)

#33

Post by DCoder »

yankoff wrote: post #5

Yeah, Viktor Suvorov is pretty interesting writer. This guy was a KGB agent who escaped to the West and published a lot of books. Another his book worth checking out is "Aquarium" - about his path from a spetznaz operator to KGB and then to escape.

Viktor Suvorov was not KGB (secret police). He was GRU (Military Intelligence).

Re: Inside the Soviet Army (1982)

#34

Post by rdl »

(I think you posted this to hn because I posted it to Facebook again, yes?)

The really interesting things to me are:

1) Invisible divisions, and the system to split units

2) Hiding top-tier equipment from the West -- even at the cost of not allowing their own soldiers to know what equipment they're supposed to ultimately use. Vs. the US, where soldiers are expected to be intimately familiar with their assigned weapons systems.

3) A really naive view of economics, that the military is "free" because the State provides it. It doesn't correctly assign the cost as that of the foregone alternative -- a tank means 100 fewer cars, etc.

4) "Role before Rank" promotions -- officers being promoted into a role above their rank as a precondition to attaining that rank. In the US system, that only really happens for certain General Officers; everyone else is promoted and then assigned, with most early to mid career promotions being either automatic or based on seniority and checkboxes.

Re: Inside the Soviet Army (1982)

#35

Post by ajuc »

vasilipupkin wrote: post #17
korzun wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ukraine is broke. They owe Russia millions of dollars and have been living on pretty much free gas (courtesy of Russia). I assume you live in US? Do you not find it ironic that you blame Russia for taking this seriously (in their own backyard) while US have been staging government coups within other countries (with multiple death tolls) for decades? And in regards to corruption: "People who live in glass houses shoul…

Ukraine is broke to a large extent because it's economy has been essentially taken over by corrupt oligarchs with close Kremlin ties. As far as comparisons with U.S., in the context of the cold war U.S. has done some nasty things. But look at all the countries which U.S. was heavily involed in. Taiwan? South Korea? Chile? Germany ? Japan? How are they doing 20, 30 years later. Now look at countries that have had heav…

No need to look at countries with different history than Ukraine. Look at Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia or Romania.

All former soviet republics or sattelites. 20 years later all are modern democracies with much better economy than countries that had the bad luck to still be in "Russian sphere of influence".

Re: Inside the Soviet Army (1982)

#36

Post by smacktoward »

notastartup wrote: post #19

As someone very interested in Soviet Union, it's system, this is a great resource. I'd love it if this was available on kindle or a paperback. Even Russians will say Soviet Union is shit or people will react like, 'why are you learning russian and so obsessed with Soviet Union', I think it's because I think it could've been a great system, it's a noble ideology that men and women of all races are integrated and all r…

You should be able to track down a reasonably priced copy of the hardback edition via a good used bookstore. The copy I have now I got via Alibris a few years back.

Re: Inside the Soviet Army (1982)

#37

Post by rangibaby »

spingsprong wrote: post #28

"It is, in fact, impossible to reach the speeds of which the MIG-25 is capable using titanium: yet the Soviet designers had managed to build this, the fastest combat aircraft in the world, from ordinary steel. " Right... MiG-25, Mach-2.8. All steel. SR-71, Mach-3.5. Uses titanium for 85% of its structure.

Combat aircraft. SR-71 is a spy plane.

Re: Inside the Soviet Army (1982)

#38

Post by democracy »

ceejayoz wrote: post #29
Perdition wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is why it is happening. NATO was set-up to counter the Soviets (dominated by Russia) and it is a slap in the face for Russia to allow NATO right on their border when they are trying to become a real world power again. NATO might have gotten away with limited defence/economic pacts with former Soviet satellites, but full NATO and EU membership was bound to provoke a reaction from Russia. Apparently the US State D…

> Apparently the US State Department didn't learn from its arrogance in Iraq, because such blatant provocation shouldn't have been allowed. Provocation: Letting Ukraine voluntarily choose closer ties with the West Not Provocation: Invading and annexing the Crimea Gotcha. Also, since when is the US State Department in charge of the EU?

Not directly in charge, but close...

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/bolivia-angered-by...

Re: Inside the Soviet Army (1982)

#39

Post by njr123 »

spingsprong wrote: post #28

"It is, in fact, impossible to reach the speeds of which the MIG-25 is capable using titanium: yet the Soviet designers had managed to build this, the fastest combat aircraft in the world, from ordinary steel. " Right... MiG-25, Mach-2.8. All steel. SR-71, Mach-3.5. Uses titanium for 85% of its structure.

Pretty sure the SR-71 is not a combat aircraft.

Re: Inside the Soviet Army (1982)

#40

Post by yankoff »

DCoder wrote: post #33
yankoff wrote: post #5

Yeah, Viktor Suvorov is pretty interesting writer. This guy was a KGB agent who escaped to the West and published a lot of books. Another his book worth checking out is "Aquarium" - about his path from a spetznaz operator to KGB and then to escape.

Viktor Suvorov was not KGB (secret police). He was GRU (Military Intelligence).

You are right. I read this book when I was a kid, already forgot the difference.
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